You, as a parent, are a key player in your child’s success. And while you may struggle with your own separation anxiety, you can prepare for camp alongside your child, ensuring the best possible experience for you both. Local experts and others weigh in here to help kids and parents get ready for camp.

Choose A Camp Together
Does your child want to attend a camp that focuses on outdoor adventures, or would he be more comfortable exploring science and technology? Allow him to have a say in which camp he will attend, considering how long he will be away from home and how well the activities suit his personality.

“When children are involved, even in a small way in the decision making process, they will experience increased feelings of control,” says Frank J. Sileo, Ph.D. and author of Bug Bites and Campfires: A Story For Kids About Homesickness (Health Press, 2009). “When children feel forced, homesickness will become intensified.”

You can help your child explore camp opportunities through websites and printed materials, by speaking with previous campers and by visiting the camp and the camp staff. Be sure to check out Auburn Opelika Parents’ Annual Summer Camp Directory following this article to get you started.

“A great way to help ease the mind of both parent and camper is to visit the camp before the summer session,” says Justin Castanza, Associate Camp Director of YMCA Camp Chandler in Wetumpka. “Most camps will have open houses or will at least schedule a tour for camp families.”

Practice and Prepare for Separation
If your child has never spent time away from home, or she is anxious about leaving home, it is a good idea to practice.
“Sending a child for nights away at a grandparent’s or friend’s house is an excellent way for both the child and parent to prepare for the separation of camp,” says Castanza.

Castanza also recommends finding out how correspondence between parent and child is handled during camp. “It is important that campers know the conditions of separation. For instance, campers need to know that they will not have telephone, email or text communication with their parents while they are [at Camp Chandler]. A camper that is at camp and experiences homesickness can really be devastated when the camp professional breaks the news that they cannot call their parent.”

Have Positive Actions and Thoughts
Susan Hooks, director and owner of Riverview Camp in Mentone, AL, explains that parents play a crucial role in a successful camp experience. “Positive affirmation is so important,” says Hooks. She suggests acknowledging to apprehensive children that homesickness is a normal feeling, but include encouraging words, too. “You can tell your child homesickness is ok, it’s a normal
part of growing up. Then say, ‘I will pick you up on the closing day of camp. You can do it.’”

Hooks also assures parents that the camp will contact you if serious homesickness continues and, in her 29 years of camp experience, she says homesickness of that magnitude has occurred on only a few occasions.

Nervous parents should also understand that camp directors have your child’s best interest at heart. “Trust what the camp director says. We have no motive in lying. We want your child happy,” says Hooks. “If I haven’t called you, everything is fine.”

Pack Comforting Items
Allow your child to take family photos, a stuffed animal or other reminder of home to camp so that they have a familiar item on hand. “Campers should certainly bring something from home for comfort. Be it a picture or a stuffed animal, it is helpful in the transition to a new place to still have objects of familiarity,” says Castanza.

You can also send letters to your child. “Most children love getting letters from home and these letters become some of their favorite memories from camp. Parents need to keep the content of their letters to positive things and statements about how proud they are of their kids instead of talking about how much they are missed [at home],” says Castanza.

Summer camp can be an exciting event for both parent and child, especially when both of you are prepared for a positive experience. Sileo sums it up well when he says, “Leaving home and separation from parents is a significant and important developmental milestone in a child’s life. We are their role models. They are looking to us for their sense of self and safety in the world. Hard as it may be for you as a parent, the best course of action is to smile and gently let go . . . Your child will be just fine and so will you.”

Julie Steed is a contributing writer.